LONDON, Ont. - Laurier’s late third period goal defeated the Mustangs men’s hockey team 2-1 on Saturday Jan. 8 at Thompson Arena during the Rock the Rink event.

Western’s only goal was scored by Keaton Turkiewicz (Brantford, Ont.) while Laurier’s Benjamin Skinner (Markham, Ont.) notched the Golden Hawk’s two goals.

Both teams started the first period full tilt to set a fast paced tone for the match. Despite outshooting the Golden Hawks 12-5, Western could not capitalize on two powerplay opportunities as the game remained scoreless heading into the second.

Western scored the first goal of the contest on the man-advantage as the powerplay unit worked the puck around in Laurier territory. Turkiewicz gained control of the puck inside the blueline and walked down low, firing a shot past goaltender Ryan Daniels who was screened on the play.

Mustangs netminder Josh Unice (Holland, Ohio) turned aside a Golden Hawks attacker on a breakaway opportunity in the final minute of the second period to preserve Western’s 1-0 lead after 40 minutes of play.

Laurier started the final period looking to even up the scoring as Skinner found an opening and beat Unice to tie the game at one less than two minutes in.

The Mustangs had a goal called off at 15:18 as the net came loose. Continuous back-and-forth play held the game tied at 1 for majority of the third period until Skinner added Laurier’s second goal at 17:56. The Mustangs outshot Laurier 32-23 but could not add a tying goal while going 1/7 on powerplay opportunities.

Western plays host to Lakehead for a double-header weekend with two 7:30 p.m. games on Jan. 14 and Jan. 15.